The Lyric Opera News, a newsletter that is sent to Lyric subscribers
(among others) lists recommended recordings of operas scheduled for the
upcoming season. The current issue touts a number of versions of Otello
but, surprisingly, totally overlooks any versions with Mario del Monaco!
For me, del Monaco is THE definitive Otello of the post war years with
the only real competition coming from Jon Vickers whose approach is a
totally different one. (OK, Ramon Vinay deserves some credit too). With
all the great MDM Otellos available I can't understand why he was
ignored. There are the two commercial releases (w/Tebaldi & Protti) as
well as a number of live performances - including the superb 1959 one
with Tucci & Gobbi - a thrilling recording.
Am I wrong here or is the reviewer missing something?
Kurt Youngmann